


Names

by ImmortalCoelacanth



Series: Hybrid Theory [2]
Category: Prey (Video Game 2017)
Genre: A breaking point is reached, Angst, Characters keep making stupid mistakes, Even more angst but I swear it has a happy ending, Gen, More existential crisis, descriptions of self harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 04:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11200074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalCoelacanth/pseuds/ImmortalCoelacanth
Summary: Names are an important part of human culture, it learned. They give a sense of identity and belonging to those who have them. What was it to do with no name of its own? It only had Morgan's name, Morgan's identity, and that was something it hated more than anything else in the universe.





	Names

**Author's Note:**

> So since several people have asked for a continuation of To Be, I created this! I did mark off the section that contains the bit including self harm, so if you want to skip that part just keep an eye out for the warning.

It believed that this mess had started when Alex had ranted to it about taking care of itself, after he had learned about how it refused to sleep, barely ate, and had wounded its hand on the mirror. It had been called to his office, unaware of the maelstrom of emotions waiting for it. The human had been furious, and in the middle of his rant he had made his worst mistake yet.

He had used _her_ name.

"Dammit Morgan, you need to take care of yourself!" He had shouted, unaware of the way it had stiffened and clenched its newly bandaged hand against its thigh. "You need to be healthy in case something happens! We can't have you passing out or getting _killed_ if the Typhons attack!"

Alex slammed his fist into his desk, making the picture on the table jump and fall over with a _clack_. Anger and frustration were clearly written all over his face, and he probably would have continued his rant if he did not look up into its eyes.

Whatever he saw there made him freeze, and a cold, uncomfortable feeling wormed its way into its chest. It had known that Alex had hoped it would somehow turn into Morgan, but to _hear_ it in such a way...

The human did not care if it lived or died, all he cared for was the slim chance that his sister might still be alive in it.

With that thought echoing within its mind, the creature stood up and swiftly left the office, knowing Mikhaila was waiting for it outside the closed door. It ignored Alex's questions and apologies.

Or it did until the human grabbed its arm.

Every Typhon instinct within it screamed to take advantage of the human's emotionally compromised state and tear him apart with its tendrils. To rip and tear until there was nothing left of the pathetic, _weak_ being standing in front of it. It shoved the instinctual demands out of its mind and glared at Alex, summoning every ounce of hatred and anger within its body, burning the human with the heat of its gaze.

"Let _go_." It hissed sharply, voice sounding both like and unlike Morgan's. Alex cringed back, whether from its glare, voice, or a combination of the two, and his grip loosened enough for the creature to yank its arm out of his grasp and storm out the door.

It did not turn back to see the regretful expression on Alex's face, or the hand that was still reached out towards it. It ignored the whisper, in a voice that sounded far too much like Morgan that said, _it's not his fault, it's an honest mistake, don't be angry!_ and marched off down the hall, Mikhaila trailing after it.

All it focused on was suppressing the burning pain that consumed its human heart and the thought of running back to its room and hiding for the rest of the day.

Hiding from the truth it knew but never wished to acknowledge.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Several "days", as it was never sure of how much time passed and only marked it by its rare sleeping cycles, had passed before it had to deal with yet another person using _the_ _name_.

_The name it hated, it despised with every fiber of its being, the name of the person who was the reason why they were all in this mess, who's failure had doomed all of them to a life of pain, suffering, and the struggle of survival!_

It was clearly not a fan of Morgan, but it never told anyone its true feelings.

Especially Alex, for obvious reasons.

It had no doubt the human would suffer a heart attack if it dared to mention how pathetic his sibling had truly been. How _weak_ and _cowardly_ she actually was under the mask she wore. That and the several Operators it regularly communicated with, _friends_ a voice within its mind said, would have been furious with it since they had all been close with the deceased human in their own way.

Even if Danielle and Elazar hated Morgan to begin with, they had grown fond of her after her passing, strangely enough.

Humans were weird, especially when concerning dead humans.

"Are you alright?" It snapped out of its daze at the sound of Igwe's voice. It had decided to visit the Operator in one of the several small labs that littered the facility, as spending entire days in its room was getting to be a little too boring, and had decided to help in checking over some of the information they had on the Typhons.

It had a feeling the humans were going to start testing on it soon, checking to see how effective their weapons might be, regardless of its status as the _soon to be savior of humanity_. It knew they would never risk attempting to contain other Typhon within the facility after what had happened last time, with millions of lives lost and Earth being completely invaded.

Humans were stupid, but they were not _that_ stupid.

_It hoped._

"I'm fine." It said, keeping its voice even so it did not portray any of the emotions it had just been feeling. _Mild irritation, anger, fear, fear, and more fear. So much to be scared of._

It had developed what humans called a "strong poker face", _a song Morgan loved sung by someone named Lady Gaga-shut up, shut up, shut up._

The mental flashes of Morgan's life were happening more and more often after the incident with Alex. It concerned the creature, as it wanted to know as little as it could about the human's life. Why should it care about some stupid _song_? Why should it care about the feelings Morgan might have once had?

_It was not Morgan, it would never be Mor-_

_You're scared of something else, something that is far worse than simply_ learning _about a dead human._

_You're scared of-_

"You seem to be a little distracted, are you sure you're okay?" It grit its teeth, not hard enough to damage their structures. It needed a better way to control these flashes, anything could set them off and send it into a whirling vortex of confusion and pain.

It shoved the nausea and the "headache" down and focused back on Igwe. While Operators had no physical expressions the machine was hovering significantly closer to it than it was before. Concern was one of the obvious reasons as to why he had done this, but it was still confused.

Why would Igwe express concern over it?

_Because it was just a tool for the humans to use, of course!_

"I'm fine." It repeated, the word tool repeating in its mind over and over again, far worse than any of the voices were. A strange ache entered its chest, different from the burning sensation it felt after Alex called it _Morgan_ , confusing the creature even more. What was this pain it felt and where did it come from? Why did it feel different from the other pain?

Igwe did not respond and it had the feeling that the Operator was staring at it. Finally, the machine let out a faint _whirr_ and went back to hovering above the calculations they had been looking at before.

From what it understood, the calculations were for a specific weapon designed to completely deteriorate the material that made up the Typhons. Something that _should_ have been created on Talos l, but was not for some stupid reason.

_The humans probably thought they never needed it, idiots._

"I was wondering if you knew anything about this next calculation." Igwe said, seeming to have completely forgotten about the previous incident. It hummed and shifted a bit closer to the paper on the table, eyes scanning the various formulas and calculations scrawled across it. Its gaze narrowed in on the calculation Igwe was talking about.

_Hm, it focuses on the rate of exchange between the energy source to usable ammunition that vibrates on the correct frequency length in order to deal massive damage to the material Typhon are made of. Interesting._

_Similar to the Q-Beam then._

It ran the calculations through its mind, comparing them to Morgan's memories. The human had enjoyed formulas like this, which would hopefully allow it to figure out what might be wrong with the calculations.

_Alex was terrible at math, but she always tutored him in the evenings._

It winced and shut its eyes, ignoring the memory that burst into its mind. Dammit, it kept getting worse! Ignore it, ignore it and focus on something else. Focus on the problem in front of you!

_Hm, carry the two, and that negative number should be positive..._

"I think I found the problem." It explained the mistakes it had found to the Operator while pointing them out on the sheet of paper. The mistakes were pretty basic and it did not take long to completely correct the calculations, making Igwe bounce up and down in the air.

"You did it Morgan! I always knew you were the best at this!" It froze at the cheerful shout, the burning sensation returning to its chest once again. Its hand reached up and clutched at the spot, as if trying to sooth it.

_Morgan..._

Why, why did it always have to be about _Morgan!_ Could it not be intelligent without that human?! Could it not have basic observations skills without somehow invoking _her_?!

It snarled softly to itself and left the room. Igwe was far too busy celebrating the recent break through so he did not notice the silent creature leaving him alone. It walked out into the hall and went straight to its room, which was luckily not too far from the lab. It was ready to waste the day doing nothing. It would have slept but since the flashes were getting stronger...

No, it did not want to risk losing itself in one of those _dreams_.

The burning within its chest did not fade, and almost seemed to get stronger as the words _Morgan_ and _tool_ continued to echo in its mind.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

About two days later it met up with Elazar to discuss some battle plans against the Typhon. Apparently the humans in charge of the facility wanted it to attempt communicating with other Typhons as soon as possible and wanted to make sure they had a plan in case anything went wrong. Elazar was in charge of any kind of offense against the Typhon, so naturally this task fell to her.

Elazar had invited it to one of the meetings rooms and together they were looking over the plans that she had come up with. The strategies seemed sound, it was one of the reasons why Elazar had managed to save so many people during the Talos l invasion, but they could be improved.

So it sat there in the meeting room, running over battle plans with Elazar in a way that reminded it too much of the last time it saw Igwe. Hopefully it would not end the same way too.

"So, this is what I have thought of so far." Elazar said, pointing out the various different defense strategies that she had come up with. The majority of them involved using eradicator turrets, just like the battle in the cargo bay.

"It's not a good idea to rely on the turrets so much, remember Mimics can turn into them." It pointed out, having used that strategy in the simulation many times as a way to save ammunition. Sometimes it had been damn near impossible to find enough mineral materials to fabricate more bullets, so it always carried a turret around with it to mimic when it needed to.

"A better idea would probably be to only use a few turrets, but upgrade them with the new weapon schematics Dr. Igwe was working on."

The machine buzzed in agreement and the duo continued chatting, both recalling their vastly different experiences in battle in order to draw up more plans. Elazar was used to working with others, while it fought solo and relied on tricks to survive. _Just like Kevin from Home Al-_

_Shut up, shut up!_

Even in the battle at the cargo bay, they had won that battle because it had told all the humans to hide while it chucked multiple recycle charges at the oncoming Typhons.

Not only had this resulted in the first major victory for humanity against the Typhons, no lives had been lost during the battle, something it was oddly proud of.

_Maybe those charges would be useful here too..._

It mentioned its plan to Elazar, who had it write down a note in one of the margins of the paper. It was glad the human turned Operator seemed open to various different strategies that would, hopefully, cause less fatalities to her troops.

It might not be happy with its existence, and hated certain humans, _Morgan_ , but that did not mean it wished death upon them.

Especially death by Typhon.

"You're a good strategist." The Operator suddenly said, drawing its attention. It looked up from one of the sheets of paper, focused on aerial support, and looked at the Operator hovering in front of it. The curious expression on its face prompted Elazar to continue speaking.

"You come up with plans that maximize damage to the enemy while reducing risk to the soldiers. It's a bit surprising." It cracked a grin and responded, a bit of warmth in its voice.

"I learned quite a bit from that simulation I was in." It rasped out, throat a bit dry. When was the last time it had anything to drink? The machine buzzed a bit and floated closer.

"I... I am sorry about that." It jolted, more than a bit surprised at the apology. Elazar continued on.

"I know it must have been, _unpleasant_ for you to wake up and learn the truth, but we needed to know what you would be like, and if you could _be_ human." It nodded. It understood the human's reasoning, that did not mean it agreed with them, but it understood.

An idea popped into its mind. What if... no, surely they would not still have _those_ here, especially after all the trouble they cause. But...

It was best to ask.

"Do humans still use Typhon neuromods here?" The Operator jolted in the air, stunned by the random question and slightly concerned as to why the creature would have asked.

"Not really, only those who already had the neuromods installed have them." Elazar responded, a bit wary about how it might react. It frowned slightly as it continued to look over the plans, spotting new weaknesses it had forgotten about.

Weaknesses that any Typhon could exploit when fighting against someone who did not have the means to resist them.

_Telepaths..._

Any battle could easily turn into a bloodbath with those on the field, or Technopaths. It looked over to Elazar, noticing how she was a bit further away than before, and how her laser was pointed directly at it.

Honestly, it felt a bit offended.

"I don't have any desire to kill you." It said, tone dry and highly unamused. It coughed at bit and continued talking.

"I'm worried about Telepaths, since I assume you know what they do to humans." Elazar hummed, or got as close to humming as she could in that form.

"Well, what do you suppose we do then?" Elazar asked, now understanding why the creature had asked. She had lost many good soldiers to various Typhons, but Telepaths were the _worst_. It was horrible having to kill your companions on the battle field like that.

Hearing the screams, the begging, the sound of one of you friend's heads exploding as they were forced to try and kill you...

"I was thinking it might be a good idea to try and create a neuromod to counteract the Telepath's mind control." It said, snapping Elazar out of her memories. The machine buzzed softly, new thoughts and concerns filling her processor.

There was so much to plan for, and they had so few supplies. They could try to gather more materials to try and build these neuromods, but that would require more planning and put more people at risk, but...

There was so much she needed to do.

"Thank you for your help Morgan." Elazar said, still focused on going over the plans, so focused she did not notice the way the creature stiffened at the name. "I should be good now, so you may return to your quarters if you wish."

It nodded and swiftly marched out of the room, pain filling its chest once again. Well, it looked like that had ended the same way it did with Igwe.

With Morgan, stupid, stupid _Morgan_.

It knew that Elazar had made a simple mistake, it could see that the Operator had still been focused on planning, but mistake or not it still _hurt_. When would it receive praise without referring to Morgan? It might have her memories, but its skills were its own, developed during the simulation! Did none of the humans know that!?

Tears began to pool in its eyes and it harshly wiped them away. It was not worth crying over something like that, nothing was worth its tears, no matter how much it hurt.

It tried, it tried so hard to hold the tears back, but they continued to fall.

Its chest still burned.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It had been in an absolutely foul mood after dealing with Elazar and wanted nothing more than to take its mind off of the incident. _Stop thinking about Morgan, about being her_ replacement _, about how worthless you are just stopstopstop!_

It knew that the name mistake had been an accident, but accident or not it still _hurt_.

Luckily enough for it, the next day Danielle had invited it over to play video games. It knew from the emails that it had read that Danielle had often played with her dead girlfriend, _anger, rage, kill, must kill, torture, make him scream for all he's done,_ and was slightly surprised she had invited it over.

However, it was not about to "look a gift horse in the mouth", _humans with their strange sayings_ , and agreed to visit the Operator and play with her. It had no idea what games they were supposed to play, but it relished the opportunity to distract itself.

Danielle's room was not that far from Mikhaila's it had learned, since Mikhaila had escorted it. She had apparently been concerned about it getting lost, since many of the halls in the residential area looped, leading to a maze like structure.

It had been designed this way just in case any Typhons got in, so the humans had multiple escape routes instead of just one or two.

_They have learned after the Talos l incident then._

So the Operator and creature said farewell with Mikhaila going back to her room to work on personal projects and the creature standing outside Danielle's door. It knocked on the metal frame as it did not have the code to get in. The door slid open with a _whoosh_ , Danielle on the other side.

"Could you have gotten here any slower?" The Operator quipped, but it detected no real hostility in the question. In response it simply smirked and shrugged, which seemed to make Danielle laugh.

She hovered to the side, allowing it to enter the room and look around. The first thing it noticed was the room looked nothing like the one Danielle had on Talos l. It was significantly smaller and rectangular in shape. The floors were made out of wood and the walls were made of pale panels. In one corner of the room stood an Operator's Recharge Station, obviously for Danielle. On the wall across from it sat a large television and several game consoles.

_I wonder where she got those from..._

As far as it knew humans rarely left the facility, so they must have been brought in right before the Typhons took over.

Danielle hovered over towards the television and it followed. While the Operator worked on setting the console up, it had no idea what the console was called since Morgan did not play video games, it looked around the room.

The walls were extremely bare... no... there _was_ something in the corner nearby the Charge Station. It walked closer to the image and was mildly shocked by what it saw. It was a picture of Danielle and Abigail Foy, the human who had been killed by... _him_.

It shoved those thoughts out of its mind and focused back on the adorable image in front of it. Adorable, which was definitely the only way to describe it.

Abigail was facing the camera, a warm grin on her face and one of her arms wrapped around Danielle in a hug. Danielle was looking off to the side a bit, her awkwardness very obvious, but she looked so _happy_ , like nothing could bring her down. It sighed, sorrow gathering in its heart.

If there was any people it wished to still be alive, it would be this couple. The letters, and emails, and _everything_ , they were both so good together...

_Alex hated her casual flings but she had to do this in order to get a good idea of what their family's competition was like. It was the easiest method, hacking into their networks after a quick round of-_

"You enjoy snooping through other people's things?" The amused voice of Danielle asked from behind it. The creature turned to face the Operator, allowing her to see what it had been looking at it. Operators were not expressive machines, but it could _see_ Danielle's sorrow as she gazed at the image.

"That's the only good thing that came out of that damn station." The Operator whispered, it could hear the raw pain in her voice. Danielle sighed and floated back towards the television, it followed hoping the host's mood had not been ruined by its viewing of the picture.

The Operator extended one of her claws and turned the television on first, and then one of the several consoles. The one she had turned on was rectangular, dark blue, and was only about a centimeter or two wide.

It looked _extremely_ fragile, and it was scared of accidentally breaking the device.

Danielle tossed the creature one of the controllers, which it easily caught. The other one was firmly grasped in the Operator's claws, something that surprised it. "You're going to use a controller and not just hack into the system or something?" It teased.

"Oh please, you _need_ me to use a controller so I don't kick your ass!" It smirked at the challenge and sat down on the floor, ready to prove Danielle wrong.

"Bring it, Sho." It appeared as though they were playing some sort of fighting game. The duo quickly selected their characters, the arena they would fight in, and then the battle began!

After about five matches of getting its ass thoroughly kicked, it was very happy that Danielle did not simply hack the console and used the controller.

_How could video games be this hard?! You just need to push buttons and move a stick around! It's not that-_

It watched as its character was sent flying off the screen with a shriek, exploding into glittering lights as they died. Danielle had won yet another match, but at least this time it had killed her character once!

_..._

_SURVIVING IN THE SIMULATION WAS EASIER THAN THIS! HOW IS THIS SO DIFFICULT?!_

Humans never failed to surprise it, especially with their creativity in torture devices. Yes, "Super Smash Bros 7 XXD" was one of the best torture devices they had come up with. Why were they not this smart when coming up with weapons to defeat the Typhons?!

After the tenth match passed, with it being able to get rid of half of Danielle's lives before dying, the Operator began speaking. Up until that point they had been playing in complete silence, with the occasional curse, but now Danielle was actually talking to it.

She asked it about how it was doing, if it was eating enough, really basic questions that helped it relax and also surprised it. From what it had gathered from Morgan's memories and the simulation, Danielle rarely acted this way, especially those who were higher in the chain of command.

It was pretty refreshing, and helped to take its mind off of the encounter with Elazar. It seemed that today was turning out to be a good day!

"So, you have any good dirt on Alex?"

It glanced over at the Operator, a bit confused by her question. "Dirt?"

"You know, embarrassing stories while he was growing up or something!" Danielle said, waiving one claw in the air as she spoke.

It unconsciously stiffened as Danielle mentioned Morgan's memories. It was certain that everyone on the station knew that it had Morgan's memories, it would be stupid _not_ to mention that, but it did not like bringing them up.

It maintained a fragile balance between it and Morgan's personality by not letting the memories overwhelm it. If it started embracing these memories then...

It shuddered, grip on the controller tightening. It was scared. It was terrified of losing itself.

Its mind was like a boulder in the middle of the ocean, and Morgan's memories were like the waves. It was scared that the constant remembering would wear its mind away, erode it until it was...

Gone.

The controller shattered.

Danielle let out a yet as plastics chunks flew from its grip and landed all around the room. She was surprised the creature had managed to break the controller, they were supposed to be indestructible.

One of the kids had used it to kill a Mimic when they first arrived on Earth! So how did...

It stood up and quickly walked towards the door, ignoring the panicked Operator following it. Danielle tried to question the creature on what it was doing and why it was leaving so soon, but it simply ignored her as it walked over to the door.

_Alex and Morgan walking through a park together on a sunny day. Alex trying to feed a chipmunk a peanut only to get chased by the tiny creature. Alex screaming for Morgan to help him and Morgan laughing at her brother's misfortune. Morgan promising Alex she would never tell anyone about it, but she would always remember._

_Morgan..._

"I'm sorry but I'm leaving since I don't feel too good." It muttered as it swiftly opened the door and briskly marched down the hall to Mikhaila's room. It knew it would be a horrible idea to be spotted walking around the facility without an Operator, especially in the residential area.

It knocked on Mikhaila's door. The Operator opened it barely a second later and was surprised to see the creature standing in the doorway. Its pupils were dilated and its breathing was ragged.

She wondered what must have happened to put it in such a fearful state.

"Mikhaila, could you please escort me back to my room?" It muttered, eyes looking anywhere but at the Operator. Mikhaila agreed and together they made their way back to the creature's room. On the way back Mikhaila glanced at Danielle's closed door and wondered once again what had happened.

_Later I will check on how it is doing, most likely when I bring its dinner, and then I will talk to Danielle._ The Operator promised herself.

Meanwhile the creature standing beside it did everything in its power to not break down then and there. The fear that had filled it back in the room was still surging through its veins. Some part of it wondered if the humans had even known what they had done, created something that would constantly live in fear of losing itself to the dead human they lurked within its mind.

It knew all the humans considered Morgan to be a friend, family member, or ally, but it held no positive relation to the human.

Morgan was a parasite, and that was all she would ever be to it.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

For the creature, the real breaking point was when Mikhaila called it Morgan.

It had been lying down on its bed when the Operator entered its room. They had developed a routine just in case it did not eat as much as it was supposed to which usually involved Mikhaila bringing food to its room and making it eat as much as it could.

It worked pretty well since it considered Mikhaila to be its friend, but that day was not like any other day.

That morning had consisted of the previous incident with Danielle, so it was already in a foul mood and planned on wasting the rest of the day by staring at the spotless ceiling of its room. Mikhaila had hovered in as usual, a tray of food containing some kind of food bar and a glass of water held in her grasp. Typically it would have started speaking to the Operator while taking the tray from her, but today it simply continued to lay there, trying to ignore her presence.

Trying to ignore the voices that whispered _Morgan, Morgan, Morgan_ over and over again.

_Shut up, shut up, shut up!_

Mikhaila had hovered there for a couple of moments waiting to see if it would move first. After waiting the machine placed the tray down on the desk, just like it had last time, and hovered closer to its exhausted form. A single claw, _like one from the arcade machine back hom-shut up!_ reached out and hesitantly tapped its shoulder.

"Are you alright?!" The concern within Mikhaila's voice was nearly enough to get the creature to move, _nearly_. It shifted a bit and flickered its eyes away from the ceiling to the Operator beside it.

"I'm fine." It replied, voice oddly empty. Strange, it did not know that humans could make their voices do that. Mikhaila did not seem convinced by its statement and hovered even closer, obviously taking in its tired, thin frame.

"You're not." She said. It sounded like an accusation, which nearly made the creature laugh. Of course it was not _fine_ it would never be _fine_ , but it did not want the humans to try anything. It continued to lie there, not bothering to speak to Mikhaila. It would have fallen asleep to escape, but the dreams...

The machine continued to hover there and it had the feeling that Mikhaila was beginning to get angry. "You need to take care of yourself." She said. It refused to respond, angering Mikhaila.

"What if you get sick, or _die_ because of how weak you're getting!" Suddenly Mikhaila was hovering directly in front of its face. It scoffed and rolled over onto its side, facing away from the Operator.

How it felt was none of their concern, the humans had made that clear enough. It knew that it was just a _thing_ , a _tool for them to use!_

"Dammit Morgan, you need to take care of yourself!" The pain flooded its heart once more, but it felt so much _worse_ than it did before. It was like something had set the organ ablaze within its chest, or like acid was seeping through its veins.

The pain was so intense it choked on it, which was probably what alerted Mikhaila of her mistake. The Operator backed up a bit before hovering closer, one of her claws reaching out towards it.

"Are you okay?" There was nervousness in her voice, and a smidge of fear. Fear of what she had unintentionally done, fear of the mistake she had just made.

"Get. Out." It hissed, tears gathering in its eyes and the pain within it grew. So Mikhaila was the same as the rest then? Thinking it was only a replacement for the _stupid Morgan_.

Alex wanted his sister back, Igwe wanted the scientific Morgan back, Elazar and Danielle both wanted a chance to become friends with Morgan instead of hating her, and Mikhaila only wanted her _fuck buddy_ back.

It hated Morgan, it would always hate Morgan, and _there was no way of bringing that stupid human back!_

They would never accept the fact that Morgan was dead when such a near perfect replica stood in front of them.

While it had been focusing on the thoughts that swirled within its mind and the pain in its chest, Mikhaila had hovered even closer. She gently placed a claw on the creatures shoulder, as if to draw its lost attention back to her.

It viciously recoiled at the touch, pain shooting through it and setting its nerves on fire. _Why wouldn't they just leave it alone?! Why wouldn't they just let Morgan die?!_

"I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT!" It screeched, pain and anguish tearing it apart. Was this truly all it was supposed to be, not the savior of human kind, but a replacement for some dead human who had failed her friends and family?!

A pained sob ripped its way out of the creature's throat, and it did everything it could to ignore the tears pouring down its face, and the snot rushing out of its nose. _Stupid, disgusting human body!_

Typhons did not feel sorrow, they did not _cry!_

But it was, each sob felt like its throat was being torn apart, and its body jerked each time, as though each painful cry ripped its body asunder. Its stupid,fleshy _Morgan body!_

And it was this very sight that made Mikhaila quickly flee the room, sure to lock the door on her way out, and contact Alex. She did everything she could to ignore the broken screams that the nearly soundproof walls failed to muffle.

The screams reminded her nothing of the ones her father had made while being killed, listening to the TranScribe recording with _Morgan_. These ones sounded like some kind of soul deep pain being manifested. Like the creature was being brutally stabbed over and over again.

It was horrific to listen to, and if the Operator still had skin she knew it would have been covered in goosebumps.

Sudden crashes filled the hall and the human turned Operator was reminded of the wounds that had been discovered on its arm, but not brought up with Alex. Mikhaila prayed Alex would answer his TranScribe as soon as possible and that the creature would still be alive when he got there.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**(Warning for the self harm bit I mentioned earlier. If you are uncomfortable with reading it please skip to the next segment.)**

It screamed, and screamed, and _screamed_. Its voice reached a pitch it did not know it had, and the creature swore it felt its vocal chords ripping apart, but it kept screaming. Screaming must help the pain in its chest, it had to!

Its body shuddered as it took in its destroyed room. The desk, bed, and mirror had all been broken, literally ripped to shreds by its blows, _how was it so strong?! It had not changed to regain its Typhon strength, so how?!_ It ignored the mental question, mind still covered by a haze of pain.

Why?! Why did its chest still burn?! Why did it hurt!?

Another ragged sob echoed within the room, screams quieting down a bit. It still hurt, but the voices were silent for some reason. The voices...

An idea formed within its mind, and a disturbed, broken grin formed on its face. It knew how the silence the voices that plagued its mind, so the same thing might work for the pain it felt. The pain that burned it alive, the pain that reminded it that _it was not supposed to exist its life meant nothing to these humans!_

Exhaustion creeped in once again, it was so tired.

It reached its still human hand down into the wreckage of the mirror and pulled out a large glass shard, hand firmly gripping the piece of glass. The edges were very sharp and cut deeply into its hand, tearing through the flesh and muscle, but it ignored the stinging pain and focused on the image reflected in the glass.

The creature staring back at it looked completely _pathetic_. Its eyes had dark rings around them, almost like _mascara_ , and the flesh on its face was thin and clung to the bone structure underneath. A deep frown covered most of its face, hiding teeth it had not brushed in who knows how long. Its hair was oily and skin filthy.

It looked like a waste, Typhons hated wasting things, and _it_ was highly inefficient. _Like joy, sorrow, anxiety, nausea, the need to sleep, the need to eat, the guiltguiltguilt-_

It was so tired, tired in a way it highly doubted the humans would understand.

It rolled its sleeves up and placed the shard against its arm, its _human_ arm. Anger rose in it once again and the creature could not stop itself from digging the piece of glass deeply into its arm, causing blood to ooze out from the wound, down its arm, and onto the floor.

The sharp, stinging pain somewhat distracted it from the burning in its heart, _but it was not enough! It would never be enough!_

It did not focus on how much time had passed, or the sheer number of cuts that now littered its human arms, some so deep the bone, _radius and ulna she had nearly failed biolo-_ could be seen. All it cared about was making the pain stop! It hacked and slashed brutally at each arm, making blood splash across its body and stain the suit it wore. A large, red puddle formed at its feet, but it still continued to cut away at its arms.

Or it did until Alex tackled it.

It had been so absorbed in slicing its arms up that it had not heard the _whooshing_ sound of the door opening, or the horrified gasp that came from Alex as soon as he saw what was going on.

It slammed down into the floor, pain racing up its wounded limbs and the heavy human pinned it there. His arms pinned its bloody ones against its sides, greatly restricting any movement and causing pain to slam through the limbs. "Let me go!" It snarled, thrashing in Alex's grasp, but it could not break free!

Alex said nothing and continued to hold the creature down, occasionally dodging when the creature tried to slam its head against his own in an attempt to make him let it go. He hoped the Mikhaila would be here soon, he could not hold it down for much longer!

Almost as soon as the thought entered his mind, Mikhaila hovered back in, a needle clutched tightly in her grasp. "Mikhaila, quickly!" Alex shouted, the creature nearly breaking out of his hold.

The Operator approached as quickly as she could and jammed the needle into the side of the creature's neck. She pushed the plunger down and watched as the solution entered the creature. It was a special tranquilizer that one of the medical staff had created in case it had ever gotten out of control.

It whimpered softly as its vision began to get a little fuzzy, tears still leaking out of the corners of its eyes and pain still burning in its chest. It _hurt so much!_

Its arms had long since gone numb, most likely from the blood loss. Someone was speaking to it, but everything was fading out and sounded mumbled. It could not understand. It felt so... tired...

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It groaned as it slowly woke up. Senses gradually returning to it as the haze that covered its mind broke up. First there was touch, it felt that it was lying on some smooth blanket with another one placed on top of it. Then there was smell, a heavy, medical scent floated through the air and stung its nose. Taste quickly followed, but that sense yielded no new information on its surroundings. Hearing was one it was glad to have back, as it could now faintly hear the mumbled conversation going on beside it.

And then there was sight, glorious vision returned and it blinded itself when it first opened its eyes. It groaned and tried to roll over but failed since it felt too weak. Its groaning attracted the attention of the humans beside it, and it heard one of them walk over to it.

"Are... are you okay?" There was Alex, and he sounded... worried?

Ugh, it had a headache, and it could not remember anything before passing out. No wait! It remembered everything that had happened, all the pain and wanting it to end. It was so tired...

The exhaustion it had previously felt was gone, now replaced by a blanketing numbness.

Why was it here? Surely the humans knew it still had its regeneration and that the wounds were far from fatal. It just needed something to distract itself. _But what if death was the only way to escape this hell, what would you do then?_

It shoved the thought down and focused back on Alex. The human was still looking at it, he probably expected it to answer his question. It opened its mouth and tried to speak, but only a pained croak came out.

Alex winced and spoke to the other person outside of its view. "Maria, can you please get a glass of water for it?" It head the sound of retreating footsteps, probably from this _Maria_ person, and focused its attention back on Alex.

The human looked... stressed.

His eyes had bags around them, larger than the ones he usually had, and his hair was greasy. How strange, Alex was usually more put together than this. What had caused such a sudden change in him?

Perhaps the other humans in charge had been bothering him? It honestly was not sure, and was slightly irritated at the bit of concern it felt at the human's appearance. It had no room for things like _concern_ , it had to take care of itself, focus on itself.

"I'm sorry."

It froze at the... apology? What was Alex apologizing for? It looked around the room, searching for the human Alex was clearly talking to. There was no one else here, the nurse was still gone so there was only it and Alex.

_What?_

"I'm sorry." The human said once again, as if it had not heard him the first time. "I, I didn't think..." He trailed off, concern once again filling his eyes.

"I didn't think about what problems would arise since you don't have an actual name, and I apologize for that."

It was speechless. Alex was apologizing for not giving it a name and all the problems that had occurred because of it. Why... why was he apologizing?!

_He might want to feel less guilty, or make himself seem like a better person so I cooperate with the humans!_

But he _looked_ sincere. The expression on his face, the blatant _worry for a monster!_ It was stunned, and its mouth opened and closed in surprise. It was so shocked it could not speak! Finally, it managed to speak, but its voice was shaky.

"What?"

"We should have given you a proper name and not... assumed anything." Alex sighed and sat down at the edge of the bed. It sat up a bit, leaning against the back of the bed so it could properly face the human.

"Assumed anything?" It questioned, voice losing its weakness the more it spoke, but it still needed that glass of water. It knew what the human was talking about, but it wanted to hear him acknowledge his mistake. Alex winced at the question, and for a moment it did not think the human would respond.

"I tried to treat you like Morgan, and I was wrong for trying to do that." Alex look down at his hands, tightly clenched together. Well, it was a bit surprised the human had admitted his mistake. It opened its mouth to speak, but the human kept talking.

"I... I know Morgan is gone." He breathed out, tears gathering in his eyes. "We lost her long before we could even escape Talos l." His voice broke and a choked sob forced its way out of his throat. Alex took a second to continue speaking, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"But we still had her memories, and we used those to make you. You may have her memories, but you _aren't_ Morgan, and I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it."

It... there were no words to describe how surprised it was in that moment. Humans could be very stupid, they could be extremely oblivious, hell it had expected Alex to be the worst combination of the two after finishing the simulation!

The sound of footsteps rushing back to the bed broke up the awkward silence. It turned its head and its eyes landed on what it assumed to be the women from before, Maria.

Maria was dark, her skin tone was the closest to ebony it had ever seen, even from Morgan's memories. Her dark hair was braided, and those braids were held together in one large pony tail that hung over one of her shoulders. Her eyes were a rich, dark brown that were filled with compassion.

Alex, obviously noticing the confusion within its eyes, introduced it to the new human. "This is Maria, she's in charge of the Medical Center, which is where you are right now. She will also be in charge of looking after you during any medical emergencies."

Hm, from what it could interpret of Morgan's memories, it could have sworn that in most cases racism would have prevented this woman from holding such a high standing, regardless of how well trained she was.

Who knew the end of the world would finally smack some sense into humanity?

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Maria said, a warm smile on her face. She offered it a glass of water, which it gleefully took and quickly drank from.

"Thank you." It said once it had finished. The women said nothing and simply nodded, taking the empty glass from it. She placed the glass off to the side and stood back in front of it once again.

"Before I leave there's just one thing I want you to know, _that_ had better not happen again." Maria said as she pointed to its arms. It immediately knew what she was talking about, and the cold, furious expression on the women's face freaked it out.

"I wasn't going to..."

"I don't care what your intentions were. If that happens again I will _tie you to a bed and never let you leave, is that understood?_ " It cringed at the calm smile on the women's face, it was far scarier than the furious expression she had a moment ago.

Why was it so scared of this, human? Her threats were just threats, there was no way she would actually go through with them!

Right?!

The expression on Maria's face said otherwise. The creature made a mental note to not upset this human whenever possible.

It quickly nodded and the satisfied doctor left to take care of her other patients. On her way out of the room she shouted over her shoulder. "And Alex, you had better fix this issue before you get too stressed out. You know I have no problems knocking you out _again_ so you can get back to your regular sleep schedule."

"Of course Maria!" Alex shouted back, gazing at the other human before returning his attention to the creature.

"She's right, I need to fix this, and I feel that the best place to start off would be figuring out a name for you." Alex said, catching its attention. He would give it a name... but what kind of name?! The last thing it wanted was a _human_ name.

They were all so boring, and it would _despise_ being called by another human's name, dead or otherwise.

"As long as it's not a human name I'm happy." It said, crossing its arms as it spoke. Excitement raced through it. It was finally getting a name! It wondered what name Alex would choose. Alex hummed softly in thought, considering what name might be best for the creature. It wanted no human name, and the transition would take some time since some people might still accidentally call it Morgan...

His eyes widened and a grin appeared on his face. Yes, that would be perfect!

"How about M?" It blinked at the human but did not argue. Alex took this as a good sign.

"M." It tried the name out. It did not escape the creature that _M_ was the same letter Morgan's name started with, but that was the only fault it could find with the name. It certainly was not a human name, and nor did anyone else share it.

M could be its own name and identity.

"Why M?" it questioned Alex, curious to know the human's reasoning behind the name. It had a feeling choosing the letter had been deliberate, but it was not sure why he had chosen it, aside from what it had already thought of.

"M isn't a human name since it's a letter, and it will be a bit easier on the people who will want to use it." He noticed the creature's confused expression and explained further.

"It will be easier on everyone if the name you have is close to Morgan's so they'll have an easier time transitioning between the two." It nodded, understanding what the human was talking about.

"I assume it will also be easier when they accidentally call me Morgan to change it to M?" It said in a dry tone. It had caught on to the other reason for the name M while Alex had been speaking.

It was a bit surprised at how well thought out the name was, especially since Alex had come up with it so quickly. It would cause a shorter transition period, and give those it spoke to a chance to correct themselves before they accidentally called it Morgan.

M was short, efficient, and was the perfect way to express itself. A name that was somewhat human, but not completely. An expression of duality.

Just like itself.

M smiled at Alex, an uncommon warmth present in its eyes. "M, I'll take it."

Alex grinned. "Excellent! I'll send out a public message informing people of your name as soon as possible." With that Alex walked out of the room, M assuming the human was finished with it.

"Oh, and M," Alex called out from the doorway. "Maria probably won't let you leave for a couple more days, so if you need anything just use your new TranScribe!"

"Wait, what?!" It was going to be trapped here for _days_?! M groaned and sank back into the pillows. Hopefully its room would get repaired before it was allowed to leave. It sighed and closed its eyes. The events from the past several days had left the creature stressed and unable to sleep, but now M felt calm.

The problem had been resolved and it hoped mistakes would not be made again.

It sighed once again as a new emotion filled it. Peace. It felt peaceful, and happy. It was definitely a massive change in what it had been feeling for the past couple days, going from such pain and sorrow to joy all because of being given a name, but M knew there was more to it. Alex had not just given it a name, he had acknowledged its existence as a sentient being, and hopefully the other humans in the facility would realize it too.

It was happy the humans who were responsible for it were finally doing something that would actually help it. Happy they had acknowledged its existence as something more than a weapon, more than a tool to be used when it was needed.

Some part of M's mind whispered that they were only doing this to make sure their trump card against the Typhon would remain allied to humanity, but it ignored that thought.

And for the first time since it woke up from the simulation, M went to sleep with a smile on its face.

**Author's Note:**

> So our hybrid finally has a name! Don't worry there should be more to come, so if you enjoy this series keep an eye out for more fics! I already have a plan for the next one, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna take a while to write.
> 
> Remember to give this fic a kudos if you really liked it, and leave a review so I know how I did!
> 
> \- ImmortalCoelacanth


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